Take a look at kitchen: For the pa. Farm Present | make a bridge out of butter meals | Pittsburgh

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CP Photo: Maggie Weaver

A blank canvas waiting to be formed

If you’ve been to the Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest agricultural show in the country, you’ve seen the butter sculpture. The unveiling of the sculpture, which used 1,000 pounds of Pennsylvania butter last year, is known to mark the unofficial prelude to the event.

This year, due to the pandemic, the fair has become virtual for the 105th annual Farm Show. Instead of a gigantic butter sculpture, the organizers made the dairy art a home affair and encouraged Pennsylvanians to make their own sculptures with Butter Up! Competition.

With the promise of a prize (a gift card to one of the members of the Pennsylvania Merchant’s Association), I knew I would face the challenge.

The Farm Show sets some rules for home sculptors: artists are limited to five pounds of butter, can only stabilize themselves with chicken wire, cannot depict anything vulgar or use food coloring, and must submit original work. What they don’t tell you is whether you should use salted or unsalted butter.

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CP Photo: Maggie Weaver

The artist starts working on the butter.

I spent a good 10 minutes with my local giant eagle, arguing between the two of them. Would unsalted butter melt faster? Did the added salt affect the structural integrity of the butter? After all, I didn’t choose unsalted butter for any other reason than that I could use the extras for baking.

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CP Photo: Maggie Weaver

A shape begins to form.

Then came the craft. I didn’t have any tools for cutting and carving a melt medium, so I rummaged around my desk and ended up on a pencil, knife, and the back of two earrings.

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CP Photo: Maggie Weaver

It stands!

It was a messy job. The butter stuck to everything, and my knife handles, hands, and the table were soon covered in melting butter. (At the suggestion of Amanda Waltz, Senior Writer at Pittsburgh City Paper, I didn’t realize until later that I should have tried carving it into my fridge.)

Despite the greasy workspace, my theme, the 16th Street Bridge, came to life. It’s not structurally solid, but that’s to be expected. It’s made of butter.

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CP Photo: Maggie Weaver

Maggie Weavers butter sculpture from Pittsburgh’s 16th Street Bridge

On Monday, January 18th, the PA Farm Show will post all butter sculpture entries on their Facebook page, broken down into albums by age. Winners and runners-up will be determined based on the number of Facebook reactions to their photo. When you spot my buttery 16th Street Bridge, give it a like if you think it’s worth it.